I HOPE #BeltwayBlizzard is more fun than peril for you and yours. Win Lord sends a 45-sec. time lapse of #snowzilla from his home, 10 blocks from Union Station. http://bit.ly/1KwAQOD ... @blakehounshell: “Paul Ryan is streaming an elevator remix of ‘Sexual Healing’ while livestreaming footage of snow from his balcony” www.speaker.gov/snow ... @BrendanBuck: “applaud @CalebJSmith for the live stream ... taunt @AshLeeStrong for the music” ... Edward @Snowden: “Soon, even D.C. will be Snowden.”

POLITICO turns 9 today – a chance to tell all Politicos, past and present, how grateful I am to you for joining our once-ragtag team, and how much I admire your energy, innovation and insight. Our visionary founders, John Harris and Jim VandeHei, wrote in a prescient, 2,600-word (!) memo to the staff after our chaotic first cycle -- on Election Eve, 2008 (quoted by Gabe Sherman in “The Scoop Factory” in TNR): “There is probably no one in the business more bullish than the two of us and ... [Publisher] Robert [Allbritton], ... optimism based not on hope but on concrete evidence ... about how our editorial model and business model are working.”

That scrappy operation has grown into what Jim calls “Politico in full”: 450 of us around the world, spread across newsrooms in D.C., Manhattan, Albany, Brussels, London, Trenton and Tallahassee, plus correspondents in Paris and Berlin, and Playbookers in California, Illinois and Massachusetts. Happy birthday, Politico. And thank YOU for reading and encouraging us!

V.P. for HRC? “Ready for Julián? Practicing Spanish, taking advice from Bill Clinton, Castro builds his case to be Hillary’s running mate,” by Isaac Dovere: Julián Castro has “plotted his rise carefully, studying and strategizing with a clear goal in sight. But if Clinton picks him to be her running mate, it’ll be more about perfectly fitting his party’s moment and the nearly non-existent Democratic bench than about his 18 months as a HUD secretary who hasn’t left a deep mark at his agency, the White House or the housing world.” http://politi.co/1WC3J2F

SIREN – A top adviser to Michael Bloomberg says the former NYC mayor (known to Playbookers as “Mayor of the World”): “1) has become increasingly concerned about the tenor tone and substance of both parties. 2) believes no one is articulating a results-oriented bipartisan vision for the country. No one talking to the center. 3) is engaged on two tracks: determine whether victory is possible -- that work is ongoing -- the second is to prepare a campaign-in-waiting that can be turned on if he decides to run.”

--N.Y. Times’ Alex Burns and Maggie Haberman, who broke the story for Sunday’s paper: “If Republicans were to nominate Mr. Trump or ... Cruz ... and Democrats were to pick Mr. Sanders, Mr. Bloomberg ... has told allies he would be likely to run. ... In a three-way race featuring Mr. Sanders and Mr. Bloomberg, [Ed] Rendell [former Pennsylvania governor and DNC chair] said he might back the moderate former New York mayor.” http://nyti.ms/1nfK4ct

--A person familiar with Bloomberg’s plans tells Politico’s Glenn Thrush: “He has set March as a deadline, ... and his decision will likely be contingent on the results of early primaries.” http://politi.co/1JsDUjJ

CRUZ anti-Trump ad, “System,” features a scary narrator saying: “Eminent domain -- a fancy term for politicians seizing private property to enrich the fat cats who bankroll them. Like Trump. ... It made him rich. Like when colluded with Atlantic City insiders to bulldoze the home of an elderly widow for a limousine parking lot at his casino ... Trump won’t change the system. He’s what’s wrong with it.” http://bit.ly/1QqRXYz

WHAT N.H. IS READING -- Marco dominates the cover of today’s Concord Monitor as part of their “Day on the Trail” series, “POLICY & POISE: Marco Rubio’s campaign focuses on individual votes,” by Allie Morris: “Despite infrequent campaign visits ... last summer and fall, Rubio’s now spending several days a week here. ... 12-hour days ... begin with a 7:30 a.m. meet-and-greet at iconic campaign stop Chez Vachon in Manchester.” See the cover.http://bit.ly/1RF5yg4Read the article.http://bit.ly/1K2XTWg

CAMP CRUZ – Dallas Morning News p. 1A, “For Cruz, it’s the perfect dorm: Texans, others take up temporary residence in Iowa to boost campaign,” by Austin Bureau’s Tom Benning, in Des Moines: “The campaign settled on leasing former college dorms after looking at other options to house volunteers. The decision saved some money. ... [T]he campaign is replicating [the setup] in New Hampshire and South Carolina.” http://bit.ly/1TfOEUV

“WORDS THAT WORK,” as Luntzy says -- CHRIS KOFINIS of Park Street Strategies shares his findings from dial-grouping Dem debates: For Hillary, “keeping us safe” performed very well. ... “Clinton’s constant mentions of Pres. Obama weren’t overtly negative in the dials, but they weren’t positive, either. When she attacked Sanders for a lack of strong support for Obama, her scores sunk in the dials, hitting the low 40s.”

“Top priorities: Sanders indicated that his first 100 days in office would be dedicated to increasing health care coverage and increasing the minimum wage. This scored in the upper 70s, which was far better than Clinton’s top priorities, which included equal pay and taking on the pharmaceutical industry to lower the cost of prescription drugs. Her scores peaked in the mid-60s. ... Sanders was speaking to the economic anxieties that ... voters feel. ... [Sanders’] ‘Health care is a right’ ... was one of the top-scoring messages.” 9-page PDFhttp://politi.co/1ZJnrcV

** A message from Boeing: In less than a century, Boeing took the world from seaplanes to space planes with decade after decade of innovation, inspiration and wonder. We’re proud to celebrate our centennial anniversary as the world’s largest aerospace company -- and we’re ready to write history for the next 100 years. Come along for a breathtaking journey at boeing100.com. **

THE NARRATIVE: As Bern looks more real, he’s taking heat in papers around the country, with more scrutiny to his plans, policies and comments. Among this week’s headlines: “What Bernie Sanders’ health care plan leaves out ... radical past ... needs to come clean about the funding for his health care plans ... Sanders’ single payer plan could ding poor workers ... Sanders promises more than he could deliver ... Weakened at Bernie’s ... Sanders doesn’t get how politics works ... Sanders’ reckless spending dreams ... Sanders makes greatest use of Senate position for campaigning.”

HILLARY STRATEGERY, per a senior campaign official: “Clinton to campaign with people she’d fight for ... Clinton is spending this weekend campaigning with progressive activists and leaders who represent millions of Americans that are on the front-lines of the battle for workers’ rights, women’s rights, LGBT rights, and more. ... On Friday, Hillary Clinton joined the NARAL Pro-Choice dinner in Concord, on the 43th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. On Saturday and Sunday, Hillary Clinton will hold Get-Out-The-Caucus events with Planned Parenthood’s Cecile Richards in North Liberty, Iowa. She will host a Get-Out-The-Caucus event with National Labor Presidents in Davenport, Iowa, [today]. On Sunday, Hillary Clinton will go to Church in Cedar Rapids and hold a Get-Out-The-Caucus event with Senator Booker.”

HOW D.C. SEES HRC -- WashPost A1, lower right corner, “Alarmed by Sanders’s rise, Clinton backers rush to Iowa: Politicians, entertainers join in effort to close enthusiasm gap,” by Phil Rucker and Abby Phillip in Des Moines: “Clinton’s senior advisers project calm and composure. In the tightening polls, they see a silver lining: Her supporters have been shaken awake, erasing fears of complacency. ... [T]here has been a noticeable difference between Clinton’s events and Sanders’s, where ... more organic enthusiasm is on display. ...

“Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said he regrets that there are not more days ... for the Clintons to campaign in Iowa. ‘Honestly, I just wish we had more time to get her and President Clinton out to talk to people,’ he said, noting that about half the attendees at these events sign ‘commit to caucus’ cards ... Outside groups backing Clinton are helping with phone banks and social-media outreach, and by showing up at her events. ...

“Clinton allies find comfort in the calendar. Iowa and New Hampshire are overwhelmingly white states with decidedly liberal Democratic electorates. But next up are contests in Nevada and South Carolina, states that have more diverse and centrist voters ... Many of the March events are in states across the South and the Midwest, where Clinton is favored. Within the Democratic elite, where Clinton enjoys near-universal support, the antipathy toward Sanders has grown steadily as he has emerged as a potential Clinton slayer.” http://wapo.st/1K2Sf6p

--N.Y. Times A1, lower left corner, “Their Boss Stays on the Sideline, but Obama Aides Tilt to Clinton,” by Mark Landler, Amy Chozick in Des Moines, and Jason Horowitz: “[L]egacy is winning ... ‘[W]hen it comes time, the president will be out there pounding the pavement for the nominee,’ said Jennifer R. Psaki, the White House communications director. ‘But right now his focus, publicly and privately, is not on one candidate over another; it is on engaging the American people and about reminding them what is at stake.’ ...

“Obama’s political director, David Simas, speaks periodically with Robby Mook ... on practical issues, like the use of the president’s image or voice in advertising. The two sides do not coordinate on political strategy and will not unless Mrs. Clinton becomes the nominee. In that case, they will negotiate a list of appearances by Mr. Obama on Mrs. Clinton’s behalf (which would be true for Mr. Sanders as well).” http://nyti.ms/1JstbWI

SPOTTED: Ipsos’ Philip Elwood and CAP’s Lindsay Hamilton, with ABC’s Ali Dukakis nearby, at The Edgar in the Mayflower, which was serving chocolate truffles. Pic http://bit.ly/23isSEo

MEDIAWATCH -- “Martha Raddatz named co-anchor of ABC’s ‘This Week,’” by Hadas Gold: “She’s been splitting hosting duties with George Stephanopoulos since Feb. 2014. ... Raddatz, who is also ABC News’ chief global affairs correspondent and was co-moderator of a recent Democratic primary debate, will continue her international reporting while working on ‘This Week,’ which will keep its ... title, ‘This Week with George Stephanopoulos.’ ... Jonathan Karl will be the primary substitute.” http://politi.co/23jXTrn

--“Post owner Jeff Bezos flies reporter Jason Rezaian to U.S.,” by WashPost’s Andrew Roth in Frankfurt: “Rezaian and his family had dinner with Bezos ... on a U.S. Army installation in Germany, where the 39-year-old reporter had received medical care. Bezos then flew the family home on a private jet.” With pic of Jason and Jeff on jethttp://wapo.st/1PcUYdZ

--Politico’s Joe Pompeo: NYTimes.com, which has signed up more than a million digital subscribers over the past five years, is 20. To celebrate, The Times created a multimedia “time capsule” on www.thehistoryproject.com ... 20 years of NYTimes.comhttp://bit.ly/1nqaFVc

– Jim Romenesko was NYTimes.com’s first registered user -- David W. Dunlap on NYT’s Times Insider: “[A]t 11:59 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 19, 1996, The Times activated its website from the Hippodrome office building, near Bryant Park, in Manhattan. It was a soft launch, intended to give developers and editors a weekend to kick the tires before making a formal announcement on Monday the 22nd. But out in Minnesota, the 42-year-old writer of the Netcetera column in The St. Paul Pioneer Press noticed that something was up with the URL www.nytimes.com. ...

“‘I didn’t know anyone in the Twin Cities,’ Mr. Romenesko recalled, ... ‘so I spent my evenings on my home Mac ... visiting sites and hitting reload on nytimes.com to see if it had launched yet. The night the site finally went live, I registered.’ As it turned out, he was the first member of the public to do so.” http://nyti.ms/1RDPNGi

--“Chris Hughes at the New Republic: A wasteful experiment in modern design,” by WashPost’s Erik Wemple: “A good chunk of the red ink was discretionary, driven by Hughes’s insistence on sleekness and design perfection on all the New Republic platforms: Web, print, mobile and corner office. He loved consultants ... Here are some of the less glorious expenses/projects that the New Republic incurred/organized under Hughes ... A quickie renovation ... Reaching ‘influencers’ ... A fresh look — twice ... Waste, waste, waste ... Parties ... Reader study and other consultants ... Killer decals ... The library.” http://wapo.st/1ZTTrjW

#OscarsSoWhite -- L.A. Times 2-col. lead, “Academy acts to foster diversity in the Oscar,” by Rebecca Keegan: “The board committed to doubling the number of women and minority members in the academy by 2020. It also approved a series of changes limiting members' lifetime voting rights. ‘Beginning later this year, each new member’s voting status will last 10 years, and will be renewed if that new member has been active in motion pictures during that decade.’ ... The swift and drastic change comes in response to a protest over an all-white slate of acting nominees for the second year in a row.” http://lat.ms/1ONrU9l

KATIE PACKER’s SUPER PAC -- “Top former Romney aide [Katie Packer] launches anti-Trump super PAC,” by Alex Isenstadt: “The group, which is called Our Principles PAC, is founded by Katie Packer, a veteran Republican strategist who served as deputy campaign manager on Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. This week, the group sent out mailers to Iowa voters attacking Trump ... In a filing with the [FEC], the group has reported spending nearly $45,000 on mailers. Additionally, the super PAC has reserved more than $3,000 in spending on Iowa radio stations ... Packer has spent months in talks with Republican donors and operatives to gauge financial interest in an anti-Trump campaign.” http://politi.co/1nqfP3h

--“Major GOP donor launches pro-Trump super PAC,” by Alex Isenstadt: “William Doddridge, the CEO of the Jewelry Exchange, one of the country’s largest jewelry companies, [says he] decided to start TrumPAC, an outside group focused on helping the real estate mogul win the White House. ... Working alongside Doddridge will be Amy Kremer, a key leader in the tea party movement who formerly served as chairman of the Tea Party Express and will serve as TrumPAC’s spokeswoman and co-founder. The group’s attorney will be Dan Backer ... who represented GOP activist Shaun McCutcheon.” http://politi.co/1QiAkZ4

TOP TALKER -- WSJ A-Hed, “Former Defense Secretary Marches Into New Territory: Videogames – Donald Rumsfeld, 83, turns app developer with version of Churchill’s card game,” by Julian E. Barnes: “Rumsfeld ... is ... bringing a game he learned [in 1973] in Brussels to iPads and iPhones ... Rumsfeld and [his former aide Keith Urbahn of Javelin] released a videogame modeled on the card game British Prime Minister Winston Churchill played throughout World War II, as the story goes, to improve his strategic thinking. ... ‘Churchill Solitaire’ is likely the only videogame developed ... using a Dictaphone to record memos [still called ‘snowflakes’] for the programmers.” http://on.wsj.com/1QqRUf9 ... www.churchillsolitaire.com

--“The consultants are in charge now: How admen and advisers conquered American politics,” by Adam Sheingate in Salon:“The key elements of modern campaigns are new, lucrative -- and not always nefarious.” http://bit.ly/1RDQ7oc

--“No Parking Here,” by Clive Thompson in the Jan/Feb. issue of Mother Jones: “You’ve heard about how robocars are going to upend the economy. But have you thought about what they'll do for urban space?” http://bit.ly/1Nq7am3 (h/t Longreads.com)

--“Secrets of the MIT Poker Course,” by Nick Greene in Mental Floss: “Can a little calculus make a total novice into a gambling pro?” http://bit.ly/1Pt7EJC

--“Alexander Litvinenko: the man who solved his own murder,” by The Guardian’s Luke Harding: “The former Russian spy was poisoned with a cup of tea in a London hotel. Working with Scotland Yard detectives, as he lay dying, he traced the lethal substance to a former comrade in the Russian secret service.” http://bit.ly/1RDPzig

--“In Search of the Novel’s First Sentence: A Secret History,” by Andrew Heisel in ElectricLiterature.com: “They’re considered as much a part of [a novel] as an envoi is to a sestina, as a battle is to an epic, as a setup is to a joke.” http://bit.ly/1QpUFNW (h/t ALDaily.com)

--“Dead Certainty,” by Kathryn Schulz in The New Yorker: “How ‘Making a Murderer’ goes wrong.” http://bit.ly/1nftEB1

--“Is Charles Koch a Closet Liberal?” by The Marshall Project’s Bill Keller: “Not hardly. But he’s for rolling back the war on drugs, ending mass incarceration, and letting former convicts vote.” http://bit.ly/1nqOcXV

--“The Presidential Candidates Ranked By Their Usefulness In A Bar Fight,” by Ali Davis on BitterEmpire.com: “Kasich is the guy who shows up to the bar in business casual and turns out to be carrying a butterfly knife. He’s the guy who scares the piss out of everyone by wading into the deepest part of the fray while swinging double-fist thunderpunches and screaming an extemporaneous sermon.” http://bit.ly/1PbcU90

--“The Ideal Marriage, According to Novels,” by Adelle Waldman on NewYorker.com: Paying “attention to a lover’s intelligence ... fairness, integrity, magnanimity, and sensitivity—is consistent with the way women novelists have long written about love. ... [Men] are far more likely ... to portray love as something mysterious and irrational, impervious to explanation, tied more to physical qualities and broad personal appeal.” http://bit.ly/1OCMJ9E

TRANSITIONS -- Starbucks’ Jim Olson to United Airlines on Feb. 1 as SVP of corporate communications: “25 years of public relations and employee engagement experience from several of the world’s most admired and innovative companies, including Starbucks, US Airways and Nissan.” http://bit.ly/1K1xmZt

ADAM CONNER to Slack -- Politico Pro tech reporter Nancy Scola: “Online group messaging platform Slack has brought on Adam Conner to serve as its first D.C.-based staffer as it seeks to expand its user base in Washington. Conner is a veteran of Facebook, having opened the social media giant’s first D.C. office, and has spent the past two years at political software firm Brigade.” His Facebook post announcing the new jobhttp://on.fb.me/1VeCNF9

THE PRESIDENT’S WEEK AHEAD: “On Monday, the President will travel to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and visit with wounded service members who are being treated at the hospital. ... On Wednesday, ... the President will travel to the Embassy of Israel in Washington, ... where he will speak at the Righteous Among the Nations Award Ceremony. The event, which takes place on International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 71st anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, is sponsored by the Embassy of Israel in partnership with Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Israel. At this ceremony, the first of its kind to be held in the United States, Yad Vashem will posthumously recognize four individuals who heroically risked their lives to save Jews from the Nazis, forever demonstrating the importance of standing up to intolerance and hatred everywhere.

“On Thursday, the President will travel to Baltimore ... to attend the House Democratic Issues Conference.”

** A message from Boeing: Since July 15, 1916, we’ve been making the impossible, possible. In less than a century, Boeing took the world from seaplanes to space planes with decade after decade of innovation, inspiration and wonder. We’re proud to enter our centennial anniversary as the world’s largest aerospace company -- and we’re ready to write history for the next 100 years. Join us this year for events and activities that celebrate the people and moments that inspire us to live by our founder Bill Boeing’s philosophy -- “build something better.” Come along for a breathtaking journey at boeing100.com. **

--NPR “Weekend Edition Sunday” (SUN 8am-10am ET): Hosted by NPR’s Rachel Martin: Check-in with Syrian refugee Mohammed Eh’tai as he works on getting his family to join him from Syria; more on the new Polish parliament’s restrictions on the country’s constitutional court; NPR international correspondent Ofeibea Quist-Arcton on how West Africa has become the latest target for Al Qaeda -- and it's mostly Westerners the militants have killed; NPR’s national desk correspondent Richard Gonzales on how Sikh-Americans in Fresno, California, are apprehensive in the wake of two recent attacks on elderly Sikh men; Rachel speaks with Bill Frisell, one of the world’s most inventive guitarists on how he applied his unique sensibilities to iconic film and TV scores; New Hampshire Public Radio's Natasha Haverty hears from Latinos who've been mobilized enough by the immigration debate that they’re becoming citizens just in time to vote this year

--Sinclair’s “Full Measure” with Sharyl Attkisson (SUN 9:30am ET on WJLA and airing on Sinclair stations nationwide): Report on America’s charities and nonprofits and the uncharitably high salaries they pay their executives; investigation of U.S. cities using investment bond schemes that benefit bankers, but drive cities into bankruptcy; report on the billions of dollars being released to Iran.

****** A message from UnitedHealth Group: What does it take to create a modern, high-performing, simpler health care system? Expanding access to care through proven state-based coverage and employer-sponsored insurance. Making health care more affordable with consumer-directed care and value-based payments. Supporting and modernizing Medicare to meet the complex health challenges of America’s seniors. And reinvesting in health to support research and innovation. Learn more about these ideas at http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com ******